usatoday24
Spain is currently the best example of A problem much deeper that arrives with infernal heat in much of the planet: How to fight the fire with the working day (and life in general). Five workers died during the first heat wave, and that is why it is prioritized Adapt the day (or suspend it) when those hours arrive in which Sol does not let us move forward.
And, meanwhile, in India it is 10 in the morning and they already have 40 degrees. How the hell do they do?
Heat as law. He counted The New York Times In a report how fire is fought in the city More suffocating. In Sri ganganagara semi -desert region of the Indian State of Rajastáneveryday life has adapted to temperatures that, in the middle of June, reach 49 ° C. There, where dawn already begins at 30 ° C and by 10 in the morning the thermometer exceeds 40 ° C, heat is not a seasonal phenomenon: it is a structural condition that conditions work, health, rest and human relationships.
The population, mostly agricultural and without access to comforts such as air conditioning, has developed A daily choreography that folds to the abrasing rhythms of the weather and the sun.
Follow the sun. The key? The working days begin Before dawn: peasants and workers take advantage of the few fresh hours to work in the fields and constructions, before taking refuge where they can when the sun is It returns unbearable.
The houses are emptied at noon, the markets close, and the few active services, such as street food carts, work under temperatures that melt the asphalt. The scene is repeated every summer with an increasing intensity, aggravated by a rising humidity that multiplies physical suffering.
Sunset in Sri Ganganagar
The thermal abyss. We go from Sri ganganagar to another “extreme” region. They explained In Bloomberg that in the western city From Ahmedabadwhere the thermometers They usually exceed The 45 ° C at the beginning of May, the fight against heat has also ceased to be a seasonal issue to become a structural need. In this environment, exposure to the sun is no longer just a job risk: it is a threat direct to healthfood security and economic stability of millions of people.
For women Like Kunwar Ben Chauhanthat sells meat in the street and has suffered fainting, dehydration and economic losses due to the deterioration of its products, the extreme heat imposes impossible dilemmas: going to work and risk life, or stay at home and lose daily sustenance. Faced with this reality, groups such as Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) Pioneer solutions like The parametric insurancewhich grants automatic economic compensation when the temperature exceeds certain critical thresholds. The measure, although modest, represents a vital lifeguard in an informal economy where many workers earn just three dollars daily.
Ahmedabad
Adaptation from below. In Ahmedabad, a more metropolis of 8.5 million Of inhabitants, resilience is built from the community fabric. In addition to climate insurance, initiatives such as ceilings coating With reflective paint and the installation of early alert systems are transforming the way heat is perceived and managed. The city, a pioneer in Asia del Sur, launched in 2013 Your own plan of action against heat after the devastating wave of 2010, in which they died More than 1,300 people and even 400 bats They fell dead by the burning air.
Since then, the actions They have multiplied: Hospitals now have special rooms to treat heat stroke, dehydration and burns, community centers, temples and shopping centers become climatic shelters during the most extreme days, and awareness campaigns have been implemented through radio, neighborhood leaders and educators. The plan includes a alert system colored by colors that informs the population, and whose effectiveness has contributed to reduce mortality.
Heat and health. Back to Ganganagar, He underlined the Times Other strategies. In the Chak Maharaj Ka clinic, patient flow increases as heat becomes unbearable. Those who suffer from previous diseases such as asthma or gastrointestinal conditions see how their ailments intensify, forcing medical staff to resort to rapid and palliative treatments. Most of the inhabitants have internalized basic strategies Survival: avoid going out in critical hours, hydrating with homemade solutions, or resting under trees when there is no other option.
It happens that these methods only partially relieve a problem that threatens every aspect of life. In the epicenter of heat, in the city itself, the activity never stops at all. As In Ahmedabadworkers cannot afford to rest: if they don’t work, they don’t eat.
Solidarity under the sun. Despite the relentless environment, gestures of daily humanity arise that become pillars of a shared ethic. At 3 in the afternoon, when the temperature reaches its maximum point in ganganagar, whole families go to the road with water cubes to offer relief to motorcyclists, truckers and travelers stunned by heat.
The act, although simple, embodies a deep sense of charity in a society where doing good is seen as the way to Spiritual salvation. For many, giving water to a stranger is the only lasting legacy that can be offered in a world where everything else is Evapora Under the sun.
Climate Innovation Laboratory. Behind the plan of action pioneer of the city of Ahmedabad there is a growing understanding that heat is not an anecdotal phenomenon, but a dangerous multiplier of vulnerabilities in a country where cities They grow disorderlycement replaces vegetation and global emissions have raised the average temperature of the planet in 1.2 ° C. From the pre -industrial era.
Recent studies They warn that if global warming exceeds 2 ° C (one possibility every time closer) India will experience an increase Six older in the frequency of heat waves. Already today, More than 600 million Indians live under an unprecedented thermal threat. In that scenario, the city has become a Adaptation Laboratory urban, whose innovations (such as Insurance algorithm which contemplates variables such as night temperature, cloudiness and pollution) are being replicated in other cities. Organizations as global parametricsin alliance with Mahila Housing Trust, they are designing scalable schemes to extend this climate protection nationwide.
The culture of heat. They also remembered In Bloomberg That one of Ahmedabad’s most significant achievements has been to transform heat perception. In a culture where high temperatures were seen as part of the natural landscape, ensuring that citizens (from workers to health officials) recognize heat as a legitimate threat has been A cultural change deep.
In that regard, popular education, neighborhood training and strategies in mouths have been essential. The women, traditionally more exposed for their domestic work and roles, have been the first to absorb and disseminate knowledge about ventilation, hydration and thermal hazards. Thus, thanks to that sustained effort, the Risk language Climate is already part of Ahmedabad’s daily vocabulary.
Dusk without relief. But even That culture He meets an increasingly complicated reality in such extreme places like Sri Ganganagar. There, after the afternoon, the town begins to relive. The markets reopen, the elders sit in a circle to talk and the children return to the channel where they bathed earlier. It happens that with sunset, the air remains hot and sticky. The Times explained Cases of families, such as Gurmail Singh, who prepare their beds in outdoor courtyards, trying to capture some breeze that mitigates embarrassment.
Because the night does not offer real comfort: the dream becomes elusive and the rest, a luxury. In India that warms up twice the rhythm World Cup, Sri Ganganagar or Ahmedabad not only resist: redefine the meaning of human adaptation, an adaptation that will come to all sooner or later According to science.
Image | Hippox, Stalinjeet Brar, Sandeepacheta, Pxhere
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings